Wednesday

Happy New Year's Eve! My boys needed a birthday card today, so I pulled out the handy-dandy chef and let him get to work! He created a lovely cupcake from Party Hearty, complete with puffy icing filled with yummy glitter and 3 wonderfully lit birthday candles in celebration. {giggle}

OK, back to reality, everything is colored in with markers. I did used a touch of pink on the aquapainter for his cheeks. The main panel edges were lightly sponged. I used puffy paint sprinkled with glitter, and let it set up for a couple hours, then hit it with a heat gun and let the paint puff up.

I send warmest wishes for a wonderful and blessed New Year to you and your family. Thanks for visiting with me today, and I'll see you next time....

Monday

Hello, Everyone! :) What a weird title for today's post, but let me explain... Today's challenge on SCS is to make a squash card. Most of the time, they seem to be used for scrapbooking, hence "squash album", and you might have heard of that term. Anyhow, Lynn created a PDF in the first post so that you can see just how easy this is to create... there's a Word document in post #10 for those of you who prefer this format. I've made these squash albums before, and they are perfect for gift giving! It was fun to make a card version today.

Well, it sure felt good for me to make a card for a different kind of celebration... and in this case, yep, you guessed it! -Valentine's Day. I don't know if this card is really "vintage", but the colors made me feel that way when I was typing up the title. This is a card that sort-of evolved... my original idea was completely different! I love organdy ribbon (it's my favorite kind to use), and I was completely depressed about it when Stampin' Up! stopped selling it many years ago, so I use what I have very sparingly. I continue hoping that they bring it back with every new catalog release... tee hee! Nothing wrong with hopin'.....

The background script is from the upcoming Level 2 hostess set Rustic Rooster (ooh, sneak peak!) and is stamped in Creamy Caramel on the same color cardstock. The large heart from Always was stamped, masked and stamped again on top of the background in Close to Cocoa. I reverse-masked and sponged the inside of the heart with a sponge dauber. The edges were swiped against the Creamy Caramel inkpad. The ribbon and half-back pearls were added last, and everything was mounted on my 4 inch square Very Vanilla squash card.

Have a great day, and I hope to see you again very soon... thanks for stopping in!

Sunday

I hope that your Christmas celebration was filled with much happiness! The last two weeks were very hectic for me (and I'm sure for you, too!), so I apologize for not posting... I squeezed in work and sleep between finishing up Christmas shopping, cooking and baking, wrapping gifts, and completing all the Christmas cards. I made over 70, but most were done assembly-line style (once I decided on which card, that is!).... and to top it off, they were either mailed or hand-delivered to boot.... YAY!

Well, I had to work the day after Christmas, so yesterday was spent vegging around the house and making some simple thank you cards for family and friends for the wonderful Christmas gifts that were given to my family. I love this Merry & Bright stamp set, and decided that this little snowman would bring a smile to just about anyone's face. I stamped the snowman and trees, masking where necessary, in order to create my little scene. Then, I re-masked the snowman and little tree beside him to protect them from sponged ink done in Summer Sun, Bordering Blue and Night of Navy which created the glow from Heaven above. The snowman and tree were colored with markers, and snowman shadows were colored with light blue colored pencil. I stamped the snowflakes in White Craft ink. This was mounted on a Real Red block, and the sentiment is from Warmest Regards (retired).

I hope that you get some time to wind down after the holiday hustle and bustle. Take care and see you soon...

Wednesday

Happy Wednesday to you... Well, I am starting to feel the Christmas Card Crunch, so after seeing today's sketch challenge on Splitcoast, I knew I'd love to try it out. This card is pretty self-explanatory... no fancy techniques done to it. My upline let me borrow the Christmas Classics stamp set (thanks KM!), and I wanted to use it today. The sentiment is from Punches Three, and I cut out the center label section in order to use just that portion of the stamped image. Oh, I will let you in on something though - that Bella Toile background ROCKS!!!!!! I am a big Stampin' Up! background stamp fanatic - I love, Love, LOVE all the backgrounds that I've purchased through the years - but this one is like a chameleon. It can be soft, classic, feminine, elegant, vintage... it is truly beautiful, indeed. If it is on your wishlist, you may want to consider bumping it up a notch or two - the first time I used it took my breath away! Today's card used Kiwi Kiss ink on the same color paper with this background stamp ~ such a pretty effect. I also used my mat pack and paper pierced along the horizontal, Riding Hood Red block. In case it's hard to see in the picture, the center mistletoe circle and sentiment have been popped up using dimensionals. Have a great day, and I'll see you soon...

Tuesday

Today's post has alot of stuff - first off, the Fall Winter 2008 Retirement List was just announced today, and I found out this morning that Stampin' Up! is giving 10% OFF all stamps sets on this listplusFREE SHIPPING with any purchase over $70 through December 23rd!!!! Just to clarify something, if your merchandise total is over $70, regardless of your selections (retirement items or not), you will still receive the free shipping promotion. How awesome is that?! If you'd like to shop from the comfort of your computer (hey, why fight the crowds and traffic?), and save alittle cash for the things on YOUR wishlist, you can click the "Shop Now" button located in the upper right corner of my Business Website to take advantage of these fantastic savings!OK, let's get on with some more fun stuff.... So, how do you like my card today? I'll admit that I have a hard time using ribbon sometimes on a masculine card ~and my boys' preference is no ribbon, just metal :) but I like how this card turned out.... now, for the details....I was visiting Splitcoaststampers this morning and ran across today's color challenge to use Taken with Teal, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red and Whisper White. I sat in my craft room looking at my stuff for about 5 minutes. Card ideas were forming in my head, but this one idea kept coming back, so I went with it! I have some simple techniques about this card to share with you... This card is my 2nd one made with my new Happiness is a Journey stamp set (the first one is a couple posts below - in fact, take a quick look at that card - see how the train is actually white?). The stamp is sort-of like a reverse from the typical images... instead of the main image being inked up, the background is inked instead to create the main image.... clear as mud? :)Well, I wanted the train to be colored in Taken with Teal, so I inked up the stamp with Versamark and Baja Breeze inks. I stamped on white and heat embossed the image with clear embossing powder. This created a Baja Breeze glazed surface so that I could use a sponge dauber and sponge in Taken with Teal ink to color in my train. I used a napkin to wipe away any ink on the glazed surface.... Voila! My train is Taken with Teal.... (tee hee!). I matted this main image with Riding Hood Red and Taken with Teal blocks and set it aside.When I first started stamping and scrapbooking many years ago, mulberry paper was the *in* thing. In fact, I still have alot of it in various colors, but I wanted to see if I could recreate the look of it using ink. This technique, or a similar one, may already be out there, but I've not seen it yet, so I'll post how I did my Faux Mulberry technique. In the picture below and depending on your monitor, you may be able to see some lines that I lightly drew in pencil to approximate the placement of my train block. I followed the edge of this line and used a sponge dauber and Craft White ink to fan outward toward the edges of my Riding Hood Red cardbase. In other words, ink up the dauber and start on the inside edge of the pencil line and swoosh/flick outward (do you like my descriptive words here? ~giggle). The thick and creamy characteristics of the craft ink allows you to move the ink around without absorbing instantly into the cardstock, so you get this cool effect. Seriously, you should try this on a scrap piece of colored cardstock and check it out! Off the top of my head, this would be fun to do around candles, stars, fireworks, or campfire stamps, don't you think?After going all around the pencil lines, I wrapped my grosgrain around the card front and placed my main block on top. I pencilled in a small dot about 1/2 inch to the left of the train's smoke stack - see it?Then I took my 1/4 inch circle (hole) punch and punched it out at the dot. I took my snips and cut across to the hole, then slid one end of the grosgrain ribbon through - you don't really need to cut across, just thread it through the hole if it's big enough... Then I glued down the block to the cardbase, pulling on the left tail of ribbon to keep it tight.The cut line is hidden when I tied my knot.... then I trimmed the ends of ribbon.Lastly, I stamped the sentiment in Taken with Teal ink and punched out/layered in Riding Hood Red with oval punches.While typing this post, I realized that I need to play with my camera settings to get better (and truer) color. The first image of the entire card at the top of the post was taken in natural light and show the real colors, and the rest of the pictures were at my craft table under the desk lamp. Anyhow, I appreciate you stopping in today. I hope you enjoyed these simple techniques and get to try them out if you've never done them before... till next time!Stamps: Happiness is a Journey, sentiment from Fresh Cuts

Sunday

It's Sunday! I hope that you are able to grab some time today to relax with your goodies and be creative... it soothes the soul, doesn't it?This card uses stamps from the beautiful Organic Grace hostess set and was very fast to put together. The main panel was stamped in Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant and Bravo Burgundy inks onto a Whisper White block. I used the scallop edge punch along the bottom of the panel and layered it on Elegant Eggplant. An Old Olive grosgrain ribbon was tied in a knot and trimmed, then this was adhered to my Old Olive cardbase. The sentiment from the Best Yet stamp set was stamped in Elegant Eggplant ink and punched out with the Designer Label punch. This was backed with a 1 3/8 inch circle in Old Olive and an Elegant Eggplant key tag punch-outs. To add a small bit of dimension, I popped up the sentiment block with popdots. When you find that you don't have alot of time and need a quick & easy card, just remember random stamping in your main block. This technique makes really pretty background paper for scrapbook pages, too. I hope you have a great day ~ thanks for checking in, and I'll see you next time. :)

Saturday

Happy Saturday! One of my son's needed a card for a friend's birthday party tomorrow, and being a teenager, I had to be careful not to make it too "girly". Usually, in these situations, my go-to embellishments are brads and hardware instead of ribbons, just to be on the safe side. I picked out the train from a "brand new this catalog" set called Happiness is a Journey. I loved this stamp set the moment I saw it because it reminded me of my father who loves trains and swears he was an engineer in a former life.... :) Nevertheless, this is an awesome set to use for masculine cards, and I look forward to using it often for many years to come. This solid style train stamp was inked up with Versamark first, then sponged with Chocolate Chip and Not Quite Navy ink. This was pressed to white cardstock and heat-embossed with clear embossing powder. Then I Versamarked the whole block, and heat embossed again with clear embossing powder several times to create a smooth, glassy surface. This main panel was mounted on black, Not Quite Navy and Chocolate Chip with edge distressing on the C.Chip layer. I added silver brads along the top. The blue background paper is from my scraps pile (source unknown), but a very similar effect can be achieved by sponging and spritzing ink. This layer was edge distressed as well, then mounted on C.Chip cardstock with brads added in the corners. This was placed on my Not Quite Navy cardbase. There's a white insert inside stamped with a birthday sentiment, and my son was pleased with the look of it. So what do you think? Have a great weekend, and I'll be back tomorrow. See you then!

Friday

Hi Everyone... Just a quick post today but I wanted to show you my latest card in Neutral colors - white, black and Sahara Sand. The Sahara Sand is a new color for me, and I'm so happy that I finally picked it up! This layout is pretty simple, but I really like it alot! I hope you have a great weekend, and I'll be posting again here in a day or so! See you soon... :)

Wednesday

Here's some altered wooden letters that I worked on here and there the last couple of days. I picked up the already-painted white letters in Walmart's craft area last week and couldn't wait to decorate them. The letters were inexpensive, so this project didn't break the bank ~ especially since I've already got a stash of embellishments screaming to be used! :)

Here's a close-up of each individual letter, so you can see the details alittle more clearly-

I used the Holiday Treasures Designer Paper (page 170, F/W 2008 IB&C) for the background of each letter. I traced each letter lightly with a pencil and cut out with scissors. I mod-podged the letter and glued the paper on top. I sanded the paper edges with my sanding block and did a bit of distressing too. I sponge-distressed the edges of each letter with Close to Cocoa ink. To decorate my letters, I used a retired Stampin' Up Christmas stamp set that I've had for many, many years called "Joys of the Season". You can see the Santa on the N, a stocking on the E, and a Christmas tree on the L. After stamping and watercoloring in the images, I wanted the images to stand out a bit from the busy background, so I stamped Versamark over the entire image and heat-embossed it with clear embossing powder. I did this a few times to make it very glazed, like glass, and stiff enough to withstand a few Christmas uses over the years... also, I used pop-dots behind the images to make it alittle more dimensional. They actually do stand out a bit and don't blend so much into the background IRL - the photos don't do this project enough justice! The snowflake on the O is the large Sizzx Snowflake #2 die found on page 31 of the Holiday Mini Catalog. I diecut a thin sheet of chipboard (like a cereal box) and glued each side of this with a Riding Hood Red snowflake to give it some weight and keep it from tearing very easily. The other embellishments are buttons, ribbon, twine, brads, half-back pearls, etc that I've had forever in my embellishment tote (not all are SU). They are adhered with glue dots or Mono-Multi glue.

This was a very fun project to work on, and I hope I've inspired you to try this out for yourself! Go ahead... you can do it! :)

Tuesday

I feel very humbled and thankful ~ Amber and Sheri nominated me for this Kreativ Blogger Award. Thank you both so much!!! With the Thanksgiving holiday and all the things I needed to catch up on lately, I had to push this out till I could catch my breath. The requirements to post the award on my blog were each alittle different ~ with Amber, I'm to post about 6 things I value, and 6 things that I don't care for so much and nominate my 6 receivers. Sheri's was to nominate my 5 receivers. I'm going to combine the two (I hope you don't mind...). If you click on Sheri or Amber's names, it'll take you to their wonderful blogs (also part of the requirements, but you should check out what they are up to anyway! hee hee)... I've not done this before, so I hope I'm doing it right!

OK, the 6 things that I value are -* God's goodness and grace in my life* my DH, Jim, who is a loving husband and super father* my 4 wonderful children who bless my life every day* my parents who are so supportive and filled with wisdom* my friends who I laugh with, cry with, and fill me with encouragement* the good health of my family

Now, the 6 things I don't care for very much (I am going to stick with personal quirks here) -* lima beans* socks with seams that rub under my toes* socks with any holes -OK, I've just realized I have issues about my feet :)* curtains open at night time* dogs without manners (don't like dogs that jump up on you or beg at the table)* loud music or TV

OK, paying this award forward, here are 6 people who inspire me for different reasons -Jen - love your stories and humorStephanie - love you sharing recipes, events and scenery around your beautiful citySara - you have such a fabulous variety of projectsRenee - your creativity is wonderfulSara - another creative guru here :)Jan - your hard work with your SU business is inspirational and your classes look so fun!

Part Two -Sheri gave me this award a couple months ago, but being a relatively new blogger who didn't blog hop, I didn't know much about other people's blogs or really what to do. Sheri is so sweet and helpful to answer some questions, so I'm paying this award forward with a couple of blogs that I like to visit -Tai - your ideas are so fresh and funTwila - your project variety is fabulous

Wednesday

Hello again... I hope you are all gearing up for the big Thanksgiving Feast tomorrow (I'm still a little stuck in holiday denial, but much better than yesterday's post.... hee hee!). I'm actually doing some baking this afternoon, so if the smell of cookies, pies and cake doesn't get me in the holiday spirit, I don't know what will...!!!! Before I send the flour flying, I thought I'd better get these layouts posted for ya! :)

I took pictures of these layouts, but I think in the future I will have to scan them so that the layouts are flat and uniform in size and color. Please excuse the bowing or photography angles - in real life, they match up quite nicely and I wanted to share them with you right now! Yes, patience is NOT one of my virtues.... LOL!

These 6x6 scrapbook pages were put together using leftovers from the Home Again Scrapbook Kit and Porcelain Prints Designer Series Papers. I also used embellishments like rub-ons, brads, flowers (non-SU) and ribbons here and there. The Top Note photo frame die-cut (below) is not glued down yet... the brads are holding it together for this picture, but I think you can imagine having the photo inside...

Here's the last double-page layout ~

Thank you for stopping in to check these out today. Be safe out there on the streets, and I hope you have a very blessed Thanksgiving holiday! Come back soon!

Stampin' Up! is offering a super sale starting today, November 26th and running through December 1st. This Holiday Extravaganza Sale and has 14 different product bundles offered at special promotional prices - up to 50% off! If you are interested in purchasing any of these bundles, you can order right away through my Stampin' Up! website and click on the "Shop Now" button located in the top right corner. Bundle quantities at these promotional prices are limited, so don't wait! Here's a quick listing of just the bundles ~

Holiday Extravaganza Sale

All in the Family Bundle (item 116217) – 50% OffRetail $63.40 NOW $31.70All in the Family, Family Accessories, Neighborhood Stampin’ Around® jumbo wheel(pages 78-79)

Tuesday

Well, for me, it's hard to believe it's Thanksgiving week... honestly, didn't Halloween like, *just* happen? Surely not nearly a whole month ago! I'm feeling so behind! Maybe it's because I haven't scrapbooked the Halloween pics yet... I don't know. That's one thing about living in Phoenix - the typical changes of seasons is virtually non-existent, so these holidays have a way of sneaking up on ya! The weather is "stinkin' B-E-A-U-tiful...." or it's "stinkin' HOT"! :)

Back in the 80's, DH and I lived in Massachusetts for almost 3 years, and the change of seasons after summertime was unmistakeable. Our very first Autumn and Winter experience there is one I will never forget! Of course, we enjoyed the fabulous and fiery fall colors in October ~ complete with blowing, swirling leaves creating the perfect "spookiness" necessary for Halloween night! Then the bare trees and gray days with bitter and icy cold weather for Thanksgiving, and finally, the peaceful, calm and quiet snowfall Christmas Eve and untouched, fresh and sparkling snow on Christmas morning. I didn't have any trouble with "holiday spirit" then... *sigh* I think I need to pick up the house a bit, put out the cornecopia on our dining room table and start listening to the holiday songs- see, I'm so behind!!! :)OK, enough whining!!! Let's get on with the pictures that I'm posting today... I altered this wooden key holder with Stampin' Up!s beautiful Ski Slope designer paper and the hostess paper pack. The bare wood item which included the hooks was found in the craft section of my local Walmart for a steal! I painted the sides and back of the frame with light blue acrylic craft paint. After tracing/cutting out the paper, I sponged Baja Breeze ink lightly around the oval shape. I glued the background paper on the wood frame with Mod Podge. The die-cut letters were glued down with Mod Podge, and I applied a light coat over the letters and sides/back of the frame itself. I left areas untouched where the flowers/butterfly were going to be, and the frame was set aside to dry. I die-cut and sponged the edges of the flower petals with Riding Hood Red ink, and formed my 3-D flowers w/leaves. The butterfly was stamped on white cardstock, colored in with markers, then trimmed out. Getting a small sheet of wax paper to protect my work surface, I sealed in the shaped flowers and curled wings of the butterfly with Mod Podge and a small paintbrush. I was careful not to get the sealer too far down on the back side of each item where I wanted to place a piece of sticky strip. When all pieces were dry, I adhered the 3-D items to the frame with small squares of sticky strip, pressing together as well as possible without ruining my shapes. I used a very small paintbrush or a 1 inch sponge paintbrush to Mod Podge a final time around all areas/3-D items for its final coat and to help stiffen up the flowers/butterfly even more...So what do you think? This project was really fun to do... of course, altering *anything* is super fun, in my book ~ :)I've been working on some scrapbook layouts, and I think I will post them either tonight or tomorrow morning. For now, I'm going to turn on some holiday music, get the vacuum out and dig out my Cornecopia items and hop to it!!! Have a great day and I'll check in again very, very soon! :)Stamps - butterfly is a SU! hostess incentive stampPaper - Ski Slope and Hostess paper pack DSPInks - Black, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red and SU markers to color butterflyAccessories - Big Shot, Birds and Blooms AND Serif Essentials Alphabet dies, black brads, sponge daubers, sticky strip, mod podge, paintbrushes

Wednesday

Hello again. I hope that your week is going well. I was busy with our last scrapbook club meeting for 2008 this past weekend, and getting swap cards ready for a meeting yesterday. My swap card was based on this simple sketch above, and I enjoyed using it to make a simple and quick holiday card that can pack alot of punch.This card used Season of Joy, and it's a perfect solid stamp set that makes fast cards during this busy time of year. The colors used were Riding Hood Red and Handsome Hunter. Perfect, traditional colors where you can't go wrong, don't you think?The next card uses the exact same sketch, but turned to make the panels vertical. This card uses the same color hues (Handsome Hunter and Rose Red this time), and it took a bit longer to put together because I watercolored all of the flowers. This wonderful flowery stamp set is Embrace Life ~ which I hope you do every day! :)To add some depth to the two largest flowers after watercoloring, I sponged the very edges of the petals with ink, trimmed them out and popped them up with dimensionals. The leaves were cut free-hand from Whisper White cardstock, and I added the veins in the leaves with my stylus. It's colored with sponges for dimension. There are two small flowers on the sentiment panel that were cut out and popped up with dimensionals. Again, I sponged the edges of my main panels to soften the overall look... I hope you enjoy my post today! Till next time.....

Well, Thanksgiving is just around the corner for those of us that live in the United States, and it's time to start getting my Thanksgiving celebration cards made for family and friends. I had made this card some time ago for one of SCS's challenges, and thought I'd share it here tonight. I bought this stamp set made by Stampin' Up! many years ago. I think it's called Bushy Tailed Blessings (I have alot of my stamps out on shelves in my craft room, so I sometimes forget the names). Regardless, I didn't have very many Thanksgiving type of sets back then (and still don't - gasp!), and I remember that I was especially happy to get this one with these cute squirrels sharing their harvest. The background was stamped in Ruby Red and sponged on the edges of the base panel, and the plaid patterned paper was found from my huge scraps pile. The main image itself was watercolored with markers and aquapainter. The ribbon and brads were added to provide alittle bit of ooommph. Thanks for visiting today... till next time... :)

Sunday

Hello again! As promised, here is another gift card holder using the Big Shot Top Note die to create my pocket that holds the gift card on the inside (see picture below). I used the very edge of the Top Note die to cut away and make the fancy scallop to create the pocket that the gift card slides into...To make this, I cut my Night of Navy cardstock in half lengthwise to give me a sheet 4 1/4 x 11 inches. Measuring from one short side only, I scored at 4 3/4, 5 1/2 and 6 1/4 inches. Fold the card so that you create the flap on the inside - see pictures below:

Use Mono-Multi glue on the outside edges only to secure the flap together (see below). You don't want to glue the entire flap together because you won't be able to make your pocket that your gift card slides into! :)

Once the glue sets for about a minute or so (this glue is amazing.... I love it!), you'll be able to run the card through the Big Shot using the Top Note die. I put a couple of pieces of tape along the edges of the die to help me line up the flap for cutting (see below). This way, the cut is even all the way down the flap. (Tip to share: You may want to use additional tape to help secure the card/flap to the die to keep it from sliding around while you cut it.)

And Voila! Your pocket has been created....I have to note here that I did take my scissors and trim the edges of my curve about 1/8 inch on each side because my gift card was just a smidge larger than the pocket cut-out... notice the white lines of the gel pen in the above picture. I drew those in for you so see how much I trimmed. I'm not sure if all gift card sizes are the same, so you may or may not need to do this step.

I decorated the front by stamping/heat-embossing the skaters from my Winter Post set (found in the Fall-Winter Holiday Mini) in black ink and clear embossing powder. I masked the skaters and stamped/heat-embossed the trees from Lovely as a Tree the same way. I used my 3/4 inch circle punch and a post-it note to create my moon mask. Using another post-it note, I protected the snowy ground while I sponged the night sky in Bashful Blue, Bordering Blue and Night of Navy ink. The post-its were removed and I drew in the edge of the lake below the trees. The skaters were watercolored with markers/aquapainter. The ice was sponged in Bashful Blue. Lastly, I heat-embossed the Christmas sentiment from the Curly Label bundle and punched it out with the Curly Label punch. This sentiment was popped up with dimensionals.

I created another one below, but this one is a standard size card using More Mustard as my cardbase and watercolored the ice instead of sponging.I hope you enjoy today's posting.... I'd love to hear what you think! As always, thanks for visiting, and I hope you had a great weekend!!! See you next time... :)

Saturday

Winter's on the way! Here's a matchbook card utilizing stamps from 4 different Stampin' Up! stamp sets. The trees come from the always adaptable Lovely as a Tree set, along with the cute reindeer from the new Fall-Winter Mini Catalog's Winter Post set. The snowflakes are from the very popular, but now retired Snow Flurries, and the Christmas sentiment is one of four different stamps found in the Curly Label punch bundle. I love mixing different stamp images from Stampin'Up!s sets because so many of them compliment each other in ways that you least expect at times...

Matchbook cards are perfect to use for gift card holders. Cut your 8 1/2 x 11 inch cardstock in half lengthwise to make (2) pieces 4 1/4 x 11 inches. I did this using Pumpkin Pie. Measuring from one 4 1/4 inch side only, score at 1 inch and fold, and from that score line, measure and score at 5 3/8 inches and fold. This gives about a 1/4 inch overlap that will tuck behind the 1 inch pocket flap that was first created. For decorating, I heat-embossed my little Old Olive snowflake panel at the bottom with Versamark and white embossing powder, then glued it to the 1 inch flap. I folded the flap over and added brads to secure my pocket to hold my gift card. For my main image, I stamped the trees in black ink on a block of Whisper White. I used a torn post-it note along the ground to protect it when I sponged the sky in Really Rust, So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie inks. Then using a different post-it note, I covered the sky and sponged the ground in Old Olive ink. The reindeer was stamped on top in black ink using the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig so it would be placed exactly where I wanted it. I stamped/heat-embossed the snowflakes on the top of the panel with Versamark/white embossing powder. Lastly, I took my Versamark pen and drew in the snow and heat-embossed this with white embossing powder (went alittle crazy on this step, but I still like the effect - LOL!). This panel was mounted on Old Olive and a ribbon bow was tied across. After gluing the main panel down to my matchbook, I added the sentiment by stamping in Versamark and heat-embossing in black powder on Pumpkin Pie cardstock. This was punched out with the Curly Label punch, and I glued the lower half of the sentiment only onto the pocket flap.

Thank you for checking in with me today. I hope you like my gift card holder and get a chance to play with matchbook cards and heat embossing soon! I'm posting a different type of gift card holder tomorrow using the Top Note Die/Big Shot, Lovely as a Tree and this wonderfully fun Winter Post set - it has officially become a favorite one for me (ya, ya, ya... along with about 150 other "favorites" - hey, what can I say? SU! stamps ROCK!) :)

Friday

This Christmas card is a CASE from my upline's last group meeting. When she showed it to us, I knew I was going to have to make this because it is so simple to do, yet stunning to look at in real life. Not only that, but mailing these will be a snap! No bulky items to wonder about, no increased postage costs, and best of all, this card design is quick to put together so you could whip up a bunch to send to family and friends in no time flat.... yay! Thanks so much for sharing this beauty, KM... Truly, it is simple elegance at it's best!

The Whisper White cardstock was cut to 8 x 5 1/4 inches and scored in half to make the "card" 4 x 5 1/4 inches in size. The back of the "card" was adhered to a 1/4 sheet of Night of Navy with the card crease along the top to make a standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch card. It leaves such a pretty 1/8 inch dark blue border all around (the pic shows the top white layer bowing out a bit, so I took my bone folder afterward and ran it across the crease to stiffen it up and make the card lay flat against the base). To stamp the design, I cut a 2 x 3 3/4 inch rectangle out of the center of a 1/4 sheet of vellum using a ruler and craft knife, then stuck a small piece of repositionable tape along each rectangle edge. The vellum mask was put on top of the Whisper White, and I very lightly sponged Going Grey ink in the rectangular opening to create the grey block. The grouping of trees comes from a stamp from the timeless set ~ Lovely as a Tree, and it was stamped in Going Grey ink too. The vellum mask was removed, and the the large pine tree from the same stamp set was stamped in Night of Navy ink. Finally, the sentiment comes from one of our current Level 1 hostess sets called Best Yet and was also stamped in Night of Navy ink. I am finding this sentiment set to be extremely useful with a great variety of sayings, and perfect for adding just the right touch!

I hope you enjoy this beautiful card as much as I am... thanks again, KM... this one's a keeper! See you next time!!

Wednesday

I love this large Snowflake #2 Die by Sizzix! I know I'll be getting alot of mileage out of this die, especially this Christmas. It's on page 31 of Stampin' Up!s Holiday Mini Catalog for just $15.95 (before S/H & tax) and well worth every cent. It makes a big statement for cards, but can you imagine your Christmas tree decorated with these lovely snowflakes, or dangling from a garland or attached to a wreath? You could die cut cling vinyl and put it on your mirrors, windows, or cookie jar! What a great afternoon assembly project for kids, too.... As you can see, I really do adore this particular die!! LOL!

This quick and simple card was created for SC201. I didn't need to use any stamps for the front of this card. I did sponge a bit of Ballet Blue ink on the edges of my Bashful Blue cardbase and the very top Whisper White block. The edges of the Cutie Pie patterned paper blocks were distressed with my sanding block. The large snowflake was made with the Bigshot/snowflake die and sandwiching thin cardboard and patterned paper together to give a bit of weight to the snowflake. I used the Snow Blossom punch and one of the flowers from the Spring Bouquet punch to create the center focal on the large snowflake. The snowflake was popped up with dimensionals.

Monday

Hello again! So what do you think about my treat boxes? I made up a bunch to give to co-workers on Halloween. They hold 6 Hershey's nuggets and were really easy to make! There are alot of these types of templates floating around the internet, but the thing that I especially like about this template is that you are able to make two boxes with attached lid from one 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of cardstock or designer paper. It's an economical pattern, and the glue tabs on the inside of the box are concealed, so it looks really nice when you open it. As you can see, I prefer to have my lid fit into the box so that it's tight and the candy won't fall out. Click here and scroll down for the downloadable PDF template. I suggest printing your template on cardstock so that it can withstand repeated uses.... just trace lightly around it with a pencil and off you go. The template has easy instructions written on it so you will always have it ready for use... I tried doing the PDF here on the blog, but it wasn't turning out like I hoped, so more research on my end is needed. I'm sure it's a simple process, but I am too impatient to dig deep for the answers right now... so while you're looking through my post today, I'll be researching PDF attachments to blogs! Hee hee... Anyhow, here's a close-up shot for you~

Tip to share to speed up the process - I cut my Green Galore cardstock in 1/2 to make (2) pieces at 8 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches, then traced the template on top and cut out. If you make sure you printed it at 100% size and page scaling is set to "none", you'll see the template fits exactly on this 1/2 sheet of cardstock and saves a little cutting time.

For the box details, I cut Haiku DSP and matted it with Pumpkin Pie cardstock. Then I punched two scallop circles from Lovely Lilac and Pumpkin Pie cardstock and layered them so a bit of the Pumpkin Pie would show. The sentiment circle was punched and mounted on the scallop circles. I made a little tag from ribbon and glued that under the Haiku DSP to make it easy for the recipient to open the box. I hope you are able to give it a try and decorate them to your hearts content! Enjoy, and I'll see you next time!!!

Sunday

Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope that you had a really nice weekend... it was my "long" week at work, so I was going to bed this morning about the time that you were well into your Sunday morning routines... but now, my "weekend" has officially begun....

Well, I made this card Tuesday morning for SCS's color challenge, and it is pretty straightforward. The card is pretty self explanatory - no complicated techniques, although I did add some stitching from a sewing machine for the bug on the 2nd panel. I like to sew on my cards - I think it adds a nice touch and is especially perfect for bug "trails"!!

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I added a pink ribbon to symbolize the fight against breast cancer. Be sure to do your monthly self-checks and get your mammogram, ladies, if it's time.... don't forget!

Thursday

For those of you who already own edge punches, this is another cool way to put them to good use! My card above utilizes Stampin' Up!s scallop edge punch using Alesha Wall's technique. This card was very quick to put together... in fact, I made 10 of these cards for a swap in about 1 1/2 hours (including time for interruptions from the kids!) ~ that's a record for me, a relatively slow stamper, so this layout is a keeper in my book and perfect for those last minute cards that you need ASAP... :)

The two colors used for this card are Pink Pirouette and Riding Hood Red. The PP square was cut at 2 3/4 inches square and punched, then matted on 3 inch square of RHR. The scalloped flower circle was stamped on PP, then punched from 1 3/8 inch circle punch, and matted on 1 1/2 inch circle punch in RHR. I used the large flourish from Baroque Motifs to create my background, and the sentiment comes from Fresh Cuts. Lastly, the card edges were lightly sponged to soften the look a bit.

I hope you enjoy my simple medallion card and get a chance to try out this super cool technique for yourself! See you soon!

Wednesday

I created this Get Well card for Splitcoaststampers Limited Supply Challenge. I pulled out SU's Boatloads of Love stamp set so that I could use eyelets for the little row of windows. I masked off the row of waves on the boat stamp using a post-it note when I inked it up, removed the post-it note and stamped on vanilla CS. I drew in the hole in the boat and bottom by hand with my black marker. After coloring in with various markers and setting the eyelets, the boat was trimmed out. I created my horizon by masking it with a post-it note, then made a cloud template from another post-it note. I sponged the clouds and ocean/sand to create my background. 4 eyelets were set in the corners. The boat/repair dock are popped up, as well as the sign I created. The little clouds were added on last. When I went to look for the challenge number, I noticed that we were supposed to use a single sheet of designer paper - it figures that I didn't... Maybe you can pretend I used cloud patterned paper... hee hee! Oh well... the challenge was still fun to do. We were to also use eyelets, one ribbon and incorporate the color blue into the card. I think I did succeed with that part of the challenge, at least! :)

** Blogs I Visit **

First and foremost, I love Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ. I am truly blessed with four wonderful children and have been married to my sweet DH for over twenty-five years.

I love being creative with papercrafting, quilting, altered items and mixed media artwork. Horseback riding, gardening, and reading are other favorite hobbies. We love and share our home with a menagerie of animals.